September 19 Birthday

Famous Birthdays on September 19

• Twiggy (1949)

  English model and actress who became one of the defining faces of 1960s fashion.

• Jimmy Fallon (1974)

  American comedian and television host known for Saturday Night Live and hosting The Tonight Show.

• Trisha Yearwood (1964)

  American country music singer known for the single She's in Love with the Boy and a long recording career.

• Cassie Ventura (1986)

  American singer and actress known for the single Me & U.

This Day in History

• 1676 — Jamestown, Virginia, was burned by rebel forces during Bacon's Rebellion, an uprising against the colonial governor's policies.

• 1893 — New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to grant women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

• 1985 — A magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck Mexico City, killing an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people and severely damaging the capital.

What September 19 Says About You

New Zealand made history quietly, in the way genuine firsts sometimes do, when it became the first self-governing country in the world to grant women full voting rights in parliamentary elections on September 19, 1893 — a change won after years of organizing by suffragist Kate Sheppard and her allies, and one that predated similar reforms in Britain, the United States, and most of the rest of the world by decades. The date's other history sits at a rougher extreme. In 1676, Jamestown, Virginia, was burned to the ground by rebel forces during Bacon's Rebellion, an uprising against the colonial governor's policies over land, trade, and relations with Native tribes that collapsed soon after, but that left the colony's original capital in ashes. And in 1985, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck Mexico City, killing an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people and severely damaging the capital in one of the deadliest natural disasters in the country's modern history, a tragedy that also galvanized a wave of civil-society organizing in its aftermath. Four entertainers born on September 19 have each built recognizable, era-defining public images. Twiggy, born in 1949, became one of the defining faces of 1960s fashion almost overnight, her name still shorthand decades later for a specific silhouette and moment. Trisha Yearwood, born in 1964, built a steady, critically respected country music career spanning several decades. Jimmy Fallon, born in 1974, moved from Saturday Night Live's cast into hosting The Tonight Show, one of American television's most historically significant chairs. And Cassie Ventura, born in 1986, became known for a distinctive, minimalist pop-R&B sound in the late 2000s. Numerology reduces the 19th to day number 1, tying the date back to beginnings despite its double-digit form, a fitting echo of New Zealand's genuinely first-of-its-kind reform on this same date. As a Virgo date, September 19 carries the sign's careful, service-oriented instincts, suited to a birthday whose most notable historical event was, at its core, an argument for expanding who gets a say. New Zealand's 1893 reform passed only after suffragist Kate Sheppard organized a petition carrying nearly 32,000 signatures, close to a quarter of the country's adult European-descended women at the time, physically pasted together into a scroll more than 270 meters long that was unrolled dramatically across the floor of Parliament to make its scale impossible to ignore, and the reform passed the New Zealand legislative council by just two votes after years of failed earlier attempts, with two previously opposed councilors reportedly changing their votes at the last moment out of embarrassment over blocking it a third time. Sapphire's old reputation for truth-telling isn't specific to September 19 — the gem, alongside its two paired flowers, is assigned across the whole month rather than singled out by day — but it fits a date whose most notable event was, at its core, an argument for whose voice gets counted.